


Uniquely Portable Magic

by fardareismai



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, First Meeting, Human AU, Romance, authors meet on a plane, prompt AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-11
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-03 20:24:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4113745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fardareismai/pseuds/fardareismai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two strangers meet on a plane.  They find a shared passion in books, but will they find each other again after they land?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uniquely Portable Magic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [perfectlyrose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perfectlyrose/gifts).



> **Hey, have you heard? The rather fabulous PerfectlyRose has a birthday today! She had a specific request for this story from her AU list: "an author sits next to someone reading their book on an airplane" with Nine and Rose.**
> 
> **The working title for this piece of whatever was "Motherf*cking Authors on a Motherf*cking Plane" but I didn't want to publish it under that title. This title comes from the quote "books are uniquely portable magic." That said, my dear Pumpkin (my husband) and my dear Beta (WhoLockGal) both really liked the working title, and Pumpkin said he'd spam the comment section if I didn't at least mention it.**
> 
> **Anyway, back to the point: A very happy birthday to you, PerfectlyRose!**

Dr. Jude Storm ( _just the Doctor, dammit, Dr. Storm sounds like a supervillain_ ) hated flying. He despised flying coach. He loathed flying coach on a busy holiday weekend when the planes were completely full of foolish college students and their families.

As he approached his row on the sardine tin that would convey him and 90 other fools across the Atlantic over the next seven to eight hours, he prayed to whatever gods might be listening that his row-mate hadn't made the flight.

He was reminded that he was an atheist when he found a girl, only barely older than the college students around them sitting in the window seat with a text book open in her lap, a notebook open on her tray table, and a set of white earbuds trailing down into her pocket, taking what appeared to be copious notes on the information in the textbook.

Jude supposed he could have done worse, as he shoved his rolling bag into the overhead bin that really didn't have room for it (he hoped that bag he was squishing against the wall didn't have anything breakable in it). She looked like she'd be quiet at least- wouldn't ask stupid questions. She didn't appear to be drunk, too studious for that.

She was also remarkably pretty, though he was absolutely  _not_ thinking about that. He had to be nearly twice her age.

He settled into the aisle seat next to her- impossible to do this without touching her at all, though he tried his best to keep it to a minimum, he wouldn't want her to think he was some kind of pervy old man. She glanced up at him for a moment and gave him a polite smile before she turned back to the dense tome on her knee.

Jude glanced at the book, still trying to avoid looking like the creepy old man he probably was (it was creepy to notice that the girl next to you on the plane smelled of vanilla and bergamot, wasn't it?) and realized that it was familiar.

"Is that the 2007 edition of  _Time and Relative Dimension in Space_?" he asked, forgetting in his surprise that he was trying to avoid being weird.

The girl looked up at him, a small crease between her dark brows. She pulled the earbud out of the ear closest to him. "What?"

"Er…" Jude could feel his ears turning red. She appeared to be English, on her way home then, rather than on her way to vacation like most of the stupid apes on the plane. "That textbook of yours. It's…  _Time and Relative Dimension in Space_ , right? The… er… the 2007 edition?"

She flipped to the title page and found the edition year. "Yeah. S'pose so. What about it?"

"Er…" now Jude felt like a right arse. "I… er… I wrote it."

The girl frowned again at him and flipped the book closed with her index finger marking her place. She looked the front cover over, then turned to him again with a raised eyebrow.

"There are thirteen names on this cover. So, are you Heriot? Sato? Harkness?"

The Doctor chuffed. "Harkness is only on that cover 'cause he was sleeping with the publisher. I'm Storm."

The girl snorted. "Professor Storm? Doctor Storm? God, you sound like an X-Man."

He couldn't help snorting in return. "I've said it for years. Tell most people just to call me Doctor to avoid it."

"Oh, and the Doctor is so much less like a supervillain than Doctor Storm."

Try as he might, the Doctor couldn't seem to help being charmed by her.

"So how do you like the old TARDIS?" he asked, giving her a grin.

She frowned for a moment, then found the first letters of each of the words of the title, and it was as though he could see the lightbulb going on over her head.

"Clever," she said shaking her head. "It's a textbook,  _Doctor_. It's not really intended for entertainment, now is it?"

He had to concede the point to her, but, for some reason, he didn't want her burying her nose back in her homework. "You could at least come up with something polite to say, seeing as how the author of the book is sitting right here."

She rolled her eyes. "One author out of, apparently, thirteen, or maybe twelve, is sitting here. I'll give you a thirteenth of a review then, will I?"

He didn't let her snark put him off. In point of fact, he enjoyed it, and the light that came into her eyes when she said something clever.

"Are you studying physics then?"

"Nope," she said, with emphasis on the final consonant. "I just read physics textbooks for fun." She grinned at this, and Jude Storm nearly swallowed his tongue when hers appeared between her teeth, pink as bubblegum.

Blimey, but he needed to get himself under control. Maybe he should finally take Harkness up on that setup the other man kept harping on.

"Er… right. 'Course not, naturally. I'll… just let you get back to it."

He reached into the pocket of his black leather jacket and withdrew the paperback he'd picked up in the airport newspaper shop.

"You read the Lilly Taylor adventures?" she asked, surprised. She'd apparently not taken the invitation to return to her studies and had continued watching him.

"Gods no," he said, wrinkling his overlong nose. "My sister's daughter is crazy about them. Tells me it's some daft thing about a girl who travels in time with some mad alien, gets in trouble and saves the day. There wasn't anything else in the shop that looked halfway decent though, and I've been promising her for months that I'd read it."

"That's sweet of you, give her something to talk to you about."

"Have you read them?" he asked, glancing at her. She was closer to the target age than he was.

"Nah, been in school and all." She had a peculiar smile on her face as she answered him. "Tell me how you like it and I'll consider it."

"Humph," the Doctor said, shifting his shoulders against the uncomfortable seat. He wasn't anticipating enjoying the book, though Donna's daughter Eileen had said that it was the best thing she'd read since  _Harry Potter_ , and he'd liked those. "Funny thing though, the author using that pseudonym," he commented before realizing that his seatmate had bent her head over her physics again.

"Hmm?" she said, mostly distracted.

"The 'Bad Wolf' thing. Wonder why he does it?"

"Probably keeps them from having to go on press tours and things. Lets them do whatever else they have to do in their lives without having to deal with being a famous author at the same time. Those books are fair popular."

The Doctor huffed through his nose again and flipped open the front cover of the book. Hopefully it'd put him to sleep and he could tell Eileen that he'd tried.

Two and a half hours and three-hundred pages later, the Doctor looked up for the first time, blinking in shock at realizing that he was still on the plane, and not in the world of the book whose last page he had just turned. The girl whose name he still didn't know was sitting next to him, still immersed in her physics. She seemed to notice that he was back in the land of the living, however, because she glanced up and smiled at him.

"You seemed engrossed," she said. "Or were you just skimming to get the gist of it so your niece doesn't hammer you about it."

"It was… fantastic," he said, slightly in awe.

"Yeah? How so? Sounds like a pretty silly concept to me- a girl and an alien time traveling."

"Well yeah, if you think of it like that, it is a little bit silly, but the characters are brilliant. The girl is funny and clever, but she doesn't think she is. She's jealous and a little bit petty. The alien is arrogant and a bit of an idiot. But the relationship between the pair of them- they're completely oblivious to it, but it's obvious they're perfect for each other. She's his sunlight, and he's her hope."

"Downright poetic of you. Wouldn't have expected it from a bloke who writes this drivel," she said, indicating the page of text in front of her.

"Oi now, that  _is_ poetry. The way the universe holds together, it's art. It's religion. And the Bad Wolf knows that. The physics in this book, they're simplified, and sometimes they're turned on their heads for the alien bits, but for the most part they're really solid. He's got to have studied physics. Might even have read that old TARDIS."

The girl snorted and returned her attention to her book, but the Doctor, now that his book was finished, couldn't seem to sit still and let the flight happen around him.

"What were you doing in New York?" he asked. "You sound like you're going home."

"Mmm, yeah," the girl said, not looking up from her notes. "Went to visit someone. Business, not pleasure. What about you?"

The Doctor could tell she was only asking out of rote courtesy, but he still answered. "Lecture tour. Went to a couple of universities along the East Coast and ended at NYU, so I flew out from there."

"Teaching physics?"

He grinned, knowing she'd be surprised. "Modern Literature, actually. Thinking I might add this series to my syllabus."

That did surprise her and she turned those wide, dark eyes on him, then she narrowed them, as though she thought he was making fun of her.

"Didn't think most proper literature professors would consider a science fiction love story aimed for young adults to be proper material for his course."

"Then they'd be fools. Besides, it's not just a love story, it's an adventure. And even if it was, what's wrong with a love story? Oldest story in the world- falling in love, falling out of love, boy meets girl, girl meets mad alien and travels the stars."

"Somehow I don't think the Greeks have a version of that last one."

"You might be surprised," he said, with a grin. "If not the Greeks, then Shakespeare."

She rolled her eyes, but she smiled as well. That one from before with her tongue in her teeth, and it just made the Doctor smile brighter.

"So, are you going to finish the series?"

He nodded. "I'll have to. Can't make the class buy all of the books though, there are what? Thirteen?"

"Thirteen planned," she said, quickly, then, quicker still, "so I've heard."

"Mmm. Can't force kids in university to pay that much for books, so I'll have to pick the one that best represents the series. If it's in the middle, I'll just give them any necessary background to understand it in the notes."

"Is that the sort of thing you have to clear with a publisher? Teaching a book like that?"

"Nah," he said, shaking his head. "Publishers love it. The bookstore'll have to order copies from the publisher, but I don't have to approve my curriculum."

"Guess that makes sense," she said with a wry smile. "If publishers and authors could look over what you were going to say, you'd never be allowed to criticize them."

"Exactly."

"Going to try to get your friend, Bad Wolf, to give a guest lecture in your class?"

"That would be fantastic, but if he's as secretive as they say he is, it might be easier to get Salinger."

The girl laughed.

"But what about you?" he said, realizing suddenly that he'd been talking about himself and his new favorite book for an age. "What do you do?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm a student, as you might have noticed." She glanced extravagantly at the book open in her lap.

"So it would seem," he said with a smile, "so what are you studying, besides physics?"

"Creative Writing, French, Visual Arts, pretty much anything that interests me. I missed out on university the first time around, long story that, and spent a while working in the shops, thinking that I'd never amount to anything. Then I got a lucky break, and some money, and decided to use it for something worthwhile."

"That's good," he said with a grin. "That's very good."

"How about you then, how do you go from writing physics textbooks to teaching modern literature?"

"Well, I'm a genius. Not just a doctor of physics, you see, doctor of linguistics and literature as well. Doctor Doctor Doctor."

"Quite a mouthful," she said, a wicked grin on her face.

Doctor Jude Storm blushed to the tips of his over-large ears.

~?~?~?~?~

When the plane landed in London, the Doctor and the pretty blonde at the window had talked for nearly the entire time. He'd helped her through a tricky bit in her physics book, and she'd helped him come up with an idea for what to get his sister's youngest (a three-year-old with an unstoppable gob named David) for his birthday in two weeks.

They'd talked movies (he loved campy old kung-fu movies, and she loved Star Trek and the accompanying films). They'd talked books very briefly, the girl had avoided the topic for the most part. She had, however, told him about her mum, a force of nature with peroxide hair. He had, in turn, told her about Donna, his sister who was rude, ginger, and the most wonderful person in the world.

It wasn't until they were standing at the baggage claim and she was fiddling with a set of keys that he remembered the one thing he hadn't asked.

"I nearly forgot, what's your name?"

She'd grinned. "Wondered if you'd noticed. It's Rose. Rose Tyler. It was good to meet you, Doctor Storm."

As she walked away, he murmured, "fantastic to meet you, Rose Tyler."

He could swear he still wasn't a creepy old man, but some obscure piece of his makeup wanted to ask her for her number.

~?~?~?~?~

When the Doctor returned to the university in the fall, he looked at the lists for all his classes, and all of his colleagues' classes to see if he could find the name Rose Tyler, but there was nothing. He concluded that she must go to a different school, and couldn't quite put aside the disappointment. He'd thought of her regularly since that summer plane ride and wished nearly weekly that he'd followed instinct and asked how to contact her again.

Once classes started, he found himself thinking of her less, though teaching Bad Wolf's stories always brought her face to mind. Lilly Taylor was, in his mind (though she was not described in the books, a device he regularly discussed with his students) dyed-blonde, a bit small, with a wide smile, and eyes the colour of aged whiskey.

He spoke to the textbook editor to see if they knew any way to get in touch with Bad Wolf. It seemed that members of the publishing community might know things like that. They had said that the famous author was famously private and that no one besides that author's own editor knew even so much as their first name. The Doctor had asked that it be made known that he was teaching the Lilly Taylor series in his classes, that he was a fan, and that he would be thrilled to give the Bad Wolf time to speak, if he wanted.

When the next book in the series came out around Christmas, he took his niece to the midnight release and ran into several of his students, who laughed about him wearing the long, striped scarf that the alien in the books wore. He'd ended up in a surprisingly long, detailed conversation with them over the nuances of the stories until Eileen had tugged on his hand and reminded him that he'd promised Donna he'd have her home by 2, and he was certain to be late.

He'd wondered if he would see that blonde hair and flashing smile, but it seemed she still didn't read the books, or if she did, she'd gone to another bookshop to celebrate.

He wondered, sometimes, why he cared.

~?~?~?~?~

The spring semester passed much as the autumn had done, and he spent the summer as he had the last one, lecturing in the United States. His return trip proved less pleasant than the previous year, as his seatmate had been a grouchy man who had been uninterested in talk, his seatmate, or anything besides falling asleep as quickly as possible.

When he returned to the University, however, it was to a surprise. The publishing house that put out the Lilly Taylor series had sent him an e-mail:

_Dear Doctor Storm,_

_Our author, Bad Wolf, has heard about your offer to speak to your class on the subject of creative writing, storytelling, and the modern publishing industry. Bad Wolf would like to take you up on this offer at your convenience during the fall semester, if the offer remains available._

_Bad Wolf would also be pleased if you would be willing to schedule an appointment. Upon hearing that you were a fan, Bad Wolf thought you might enjoy seeing a new manuscript for a new book series that is in the works._

_Please let us know, and we will convey the time and date to Bad Wolf._

_Best Regards,_

_The Publishing House of Foreman, Chesterton, and Wright_

The Doctor was shocked but pleased. He'd looked into Bad Wolf and knew that the man hadn't ever spoken in public. To be the first person to whom the author had made such an offer nearly made the Doctor giddy. It was a fan's dream come true.

~?~?~?~?~

The Doctor stood backstage bouncing like a sugar-rushing ten-year-old. He'd given the publishing house a date, had offered to take the author out to dinner after the presentation, and had told the school his plans. He'd spent two weeks bullying his students through the book so that every one of them would have finished it by the time the famous author appeared, and now he was set to arrive at any moment.

Every time someone opened the backstage door, the Doctor peered into the blinding sun to see who was being silhouetted, but thus far it had only ever been stagehands and the theatre management. It didn't matter, because when the author finally walked in, she came from inside the school rather than outside of it.

"Hello, Doctor."

Jude turned toward the almost-familiar voice and found himself facing a young woman in a brown skirt and pink top with blonde hair twisted into a knot on the back of her head, and a brilliantly familiar smile.

"R-Rose Tyler?" he stammered. "What are you doing…" He trailed off as his mind finally caught up with itself and, being brilliant, made several connections that it should have done ages ago.

"You're the Bad Wolf?" he asked, breathless.

"I'm just the slightest bit surprised you never suspected that. Lilly Taylor? Rose Tyler? I always thought it was obvious. Did you teach your classes that I was a man?"

The Doctor flushed slightly. "I never took an official side, but there were arguments in every single class."

"Good," she said with a smile. "I always hoped there would be."

"Why didn't you say something, when we met?"

She laughed, a gentle silver sound like water into crystal. "If I had, would you have been so honest? And really, who would read a romance science fiction series written by a 19-year-old girl anyway?"

He shook his head. "You sell yourself very short, Rose. What about-"

Rose cut him off. "I have to go on in just a moment, you can ask me anything you like at dinner."

~?~?~?~?~

"Why now?" he asked, filling her glass from the bottle of wine he had ordered.

"I finally finished my degree and decided that I should start being a real author instead of doing it on the side," she said with a shrug. "I had the money from the first several books so…"

Her presentation had been a wild success. The students had loved her, and she had allowed them to ask her questions of all sorts. There had been a few unruly ones who'd implied that her books were foolish, girly crap, now that they knew they'd been written by a woman, but most of the classes had been thrilled to know that someone scarcely older than they had written international bestsellers.

"So you wrote them for money?" Jude asked.

"Gods no. I didn't really have any money, but the thought of selling my stories never even occurred to me. I wrote because… well… you'll notice Lilly had a lower-class upbringing? Write what you know, like they say, eh? But kids from the Estates… they don't get published, even if the do write stories, and a lot of them don't. I got lucky, like I told you before."

"Lucky how?"

"Have you ever heard of Harriet Jones?"

"The author of  _Back-Bencher_? That political drama that had everyone talking about five years ago? Yeah, it was brilliant!"

"Well, I didn't know her at all, but I was working at Henrick's downtown when she was still living in the city, when she comes into the store. She's acting kind of cagey and all, ducking between aisles and kind of being weird. I was going to see what was up- maybe she was stealing something- when I noticed this fat bloke in a suit seemed to be following her. I watched for a few minutes, and decided the bloke was up to no good and called the cops. He was arrested, turns out he was a politician and he thought one of the characters in her book was him and he was trying to catch her up and… I don't even know what he'd have done to her if he'd caught her. But Harriet and I became friends after that, and she read one of my stories and put me in touch with her publisher and the rest is… well… history!"

Jude couldn't help but smile. "History that involves six bestsellers, three years of a pseudonym, and a coming out speech at my university, which is going to make all the kids at the next midnight release party wildly jealous, you know?"

"Speaking of which, is your niece still reading the books?"

"Oh!" he said, smacking his head. He reached into his briefcase from work and pulled out a copy of the latest of Rose's books. "Yes, she's your biggest fan. She asked me to have you sign this, if you wouldn't mind."

Rose looked slightly stunned. "I've never signed anything… not like this anyway. Not an autograph like… like a famous person."

Jude grinned. "Welcome to the limelight."

~?~?~?~?~

At the end of dinner, standing out in front of the restaurant, Jude found himself reluctant to say goodbye.

"Where are you headed?" he asked. "I could walk you?"

She smiled gently and, he thought, with just a shade of regret. "Oh no, it's across the city. I'll take a cab, no worries. I had a wonderful night, Doctor."

"You could call me Jude, if you'd like," he said, on a sudden whim.

"Jude then. Thank you for letting me steal your spotlight from your students. I fear they'll be a bit less impressed with you now than they were before, and I am sorry for that."

"Hush, I'm not. It was… it was fantastic to meet you… again… and for the first time. I… thank you for speaking to our students."

"It was absolutely my pleasure," she said, smiling.

The doorman hailed a taxi for her and Jude nearly panicked. He couldn't let her get away without being able to reach her again, he just couldn't.

"Rose!" he said, grabbing her hand even as she reached for the door handle on the car. "Would you… would you like to get a drink with me?"

"I… er… I'm afraid I can't. It's a bit late and I do need to get home. My mother is waiting to hear back from me about how it all went, you see."

Jude couldn't be certain, but he had a feeling that there was genuine regret in her eyes at having to say no.

"No, of course not. Silly to ask. Well then… I'll see you around sometime then, yeah?"

"Yes, of course. Thank you again, Doctor."

She took her seat in the cab and, just as she was pulling the door closed, the Doctor grabbed it with his hand.

"Rose… those drinks… what about tomorrow night then, eh?"

Her face lit with a grin that was like the sunset over the mountains. "Yes, I think I would be available for drinks with you tomorrow."


End file.
